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  <div class="section" id="development-tools">
<span id="development"></span><h1>25. Development Tools<a class="headerlink" href="#development-tools" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p>The modules described in this chapter help you write software.  For example, the
<a class="reference internal" href="pydoc.html#module-pydoc" title="pydoc: Documentation generator and online help system."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">pydoc</span></tt></a> module takes a module and generates documentation based on the
module&#8217;s contents.  The <a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#module-doctest" title="doctest: Test pieces of code within docstrings."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">doctest</span></tt></a> and <a class="reference internal" href="unittest.html#module-unittest" title="unittest: Unit testing framework for Python."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">unittest</span></tt></a> modules contains
frameworks for writing unit tests that automatically exercise code and verify
that the expected output is produced.  <strong class="program">2to3</strong> can translate Python 2.x
source code into valid Python 3.x code.</p>
<p>The list of modules described in this chapter is:</p>
<div class="toctree-wrapper compound">
<ul>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="pydoc.html">25.1. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">pydoc</span></tt> &#8212; Documentation generator and online help system</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html">25.2. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">doctest</span></tt> &#8212; Test interactive Python examples</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#simple-usage-checking-examples-in-docstrings">25.2.1. Simple Usage: Checking Examples in Docstrings</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#simple-usage-checking-examples-in-a-text-file">25.2.2. Simple Usage: Checking Examples in a Text File</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#how-it-works">25.2.3. How It Works</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#which-docstrings-are-examined">25.2.3.1. Which Docstrings Are Examined?</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#how-are-docstring-examples-recognized">25.2.3.2. How are Docstring Examples Recognized?</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#what-s-the-execution-context">25.2.3.3. What&#8217;s the Execution Context?</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#what-about-exceptions">25.2.3.4. What About Exceptions?</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#option-flags">25.2.3.5. Option Flags</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#directives">25.2.3.6. Directives</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#warnings">25.2.3.7. Warnings</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#basic-api">25.2.4. Basic API</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#unittest-api">25.2.5. Unittest API</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#advanced-api">25.2.6. Advanced API</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#doctest-objects">25.2.6.1. DocTest Objects</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#example-objects">25.2.6.2. Example Objects</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#doctestfinder-objects">25.2.6.3. DocTestFinder objects</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#doctestparser-objects">25.2.6.4. DocTestParser objects</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#doctestrunner-objects">25.2.6.5. DocTestRunner objects</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#outputchecker-objects">25.2.6.6. OutputChecker objects</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#debugging">25.2.7. Debugging</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="doctest.html#soapbox">25.2.8. Soapbox</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="unittest.html">25.3. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">unittest</span></tt> &#8212; Unit testing framework</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="unittest.html#basic-example">25.3.1. Basic example</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="unittest.html#command-line-interface">25.3.2. Command-Line Interface</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="unittest.html#command-line-options">25.3.2.1. Command-line options</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="unittest.html#test-discovery">25.3.3. Test Discovery</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="unittest.html#organizing-test-code">25.3.4. Organizing test code</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="unittest.html#re-using-old-test-code">25.3.5. Re-using old test code</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="unittest.html#skipping-tests-and-expected-failures">25.3.6. Skipping tests and expected failures</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="unittest.html#classes-and-functions">25.3.7. Classes and functions</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="unittest.html#test-cases">25.3.7.1. Test cases</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l4"><a class="reference internal" href="unittest.html#deprecated-aliases">25.3.7.1.1. Deprecated aliases</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="unittest.html#grouping-tests">25.3.7.2. Grouping tests</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="unittest.html#loading-and-running-tests">25.3.7.3. Loading and running tests</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l4"><a class="reference internal" href="unittest.html#load-tests-protocol">25.3.7.3.1. load_tests Protocol</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="unittest.html#class-and-module-fixtures">25.3.8. Class and Module Fixtures</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="unittest.html#setupclass-and-teardownclass">25.3.8.1. setUpClass and tearDownClass</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="unittest.html#setupmodule-and-teardownmodule">25.3.8.2. setUpModule and tearDownModule</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="unittest.html#signal-handling">25.3.9. Signal Handling</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="2to3.html">25.4. 2to3 - Automated Python 2 to 3 code translation</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="2to3.html#using-2to3">25.4.1. Using 2to3</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="2to3.html#fixers">25.4.2. Fixers</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="2to3.html#module-lib2to3">25.4.3. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">lib2to3</span></tt> - 2to3&#8217;s library</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="test.html">25.5. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">test</span></tt> &#8212; Regression tests package for Python</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="test.html#writing-unit-tests-for-the-test-package">25.5.1. Writing Unit Tests for the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">test</span></tt> package</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="test.html#running-tests-using-the-command-line-interface">25.5.2. Running tests using the command-line interface</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="test.html#module-test.test_support">25.6. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">test.test_support</span></tt> &#8212; Utility functions for tests</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
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